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Exhibition about WWII hero Pilecki in Vilnius

PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk 28.02.2018 15:00
Several dozen posters by artists taking part in an international competition under the motto “Witold Pilecki – an Invincible Hero” can be seen at the Polish Cultural Centre in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
Witold Pilecki. Photo: pilecki.ipn.gov.plWitold Pilecki. Photo: pilecki.ipn.gov.pl

The opening ceremony coincided with the presentation of a book called “Witold’s Report”, an account of Pilecki’s activities aimed at organizing a resistance movement in the Auschwitz Nazi German concentration camp.

The posters were earlier shown in London, Rome and at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Witold Pilecki is known as the victim of two totalitarian systems and as the “Auschwitz volunteer”.

In 1940 he allowed himself to be arrested by the Germans and sent to Auschwitz in order to gain first-hand knowledge of the conditions there.

In his reports, he wrote about the situation in the camp and German plans to exterminate European Jews.

In 1943, after escaping from Auschwitz, Pilecki reached Warsaw, and a year later fought in the Warsaw Uprising.

After the war he went to Italy and joined the Second Corps. He was then sent by the Polish intelligence to Poland as an agent. He was captured and executed by the communist authorities on 25 May 1948. His burial place has never been found.

In 1990, he was rehabilitated and in 2008 posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest Polish state distinction. In 2013 he was promoted to the rank of colonel. (mk/pk)

tags: WWII
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